"Great Wall Friendship Award" by Beijing Municipal Government (December)
President of Novozymes China, Weiming Jiang, received the "Great Wall Friendship Award" from Beijing municipal government in recognition of his contribution to promote sustainable development in China. Initiated in 1991, the "Great Wall Friendship Award" is the top-level recognition from the Beijing government. It is granted annually to foreign experts working in the Chinese capital for their outstanding contribution to Beijing's economic and social progress.
Standard & Poor's includes Novozymes in their PowerPicks 2005 Portfolio (December)
Standard & Poor's is a global provider of financial information; independent credit ratings, indices, risk evaluation, and investment research. Every year, S&P constructs two model portfolios (one of them US-based, the second global) which consist of the stocks that S&P analysts deem as the best buy-ideas in the coming year, and which S&P clients - financial advisors - can use to advise their clients. Novozymes was one of the 30 companies included in the "global picks" portfolio for this year.
Environmental recognition for Novozymes in Franklinton (December)
US Environmental Protection Agency renewed Novozymes' membership of the "National Environmental Performance Track". Performance Track is a Federal government program that recognises and rewards businesses for demonstrating an effective environmental management system and for exceeding environmental protection standards. When applying for membership or renewal, companies must demonstrate that they exceed regulatory requirements, implement environmental management systems, work closely with communities and set three-year goals to im prove performance.
Novozymes: the best workplace in Denmark (November)
Novozymes was awarded the prize for the best workplace with more than 1000 employees in the survey of "Denmark's Best Workplaces 2004". The survey was conducted by the Great Place to Work Institute in Denmark. Part of the survey involved questionnaires sent out to 250 employees selected as representatives of all Novozymes employees in Denmark. The prize was presented by Henriette Kj'r, the Minister for Family and Consumer Affairs, who said that Novozymes has a number of unique structures and policies which support a successful large workplace such as The Novozymes Touch, our People Policy and Social Responsibility Policy, our work on management skills and the tripartite career structure, which offers good opportunities for career advancement.
Novozymes Latin America receives top award from Unilever (October)
For the third time in five years, Novozymes was honoured. Not only did we receive the Innovation Award for multidisciplinary competences, qualifications and abilities in the merging of different stages of the business chain, but we also won the prestigious "best of the best" category for integrated strategic planning, product innovation, sales and delivery competences, high quality and a high social responsibility profile.
Novozymes awarded for our contribution to the environment (October)
At the Virginia Manufacturing Industry Conference & Governor's Award Ceremony a panel of judges from industry, academia, and the regulatory environment recognised Novozymes, Salem, with the highest honour - the gold award. The award was given for our work in developing and promoting biological solutions that pro vide environmentally friendly solutions for applications in cleaning and maintenance, plant care, and industrial waste treatment.
Dow Jones: Novozymes no 1 in sustainability in Europe as well as globally (August)
Novozymes came in no 1 in both the Dow Jones Sustainability World Indexes - Biotechnology and the Sustainability STOXX Indexes - Healthcare, for the fourth year in a row.~ Among other things Novozymes' prestigious ranking is due to its dedication to corporate sustainability exemplified through its management remuneration. All directors and vice presidents at Novozymes stand to receive a cash bonus for the 2004 financial year that will also depend on the fulfilment of the 13 environmental and social targets published in its 2003 annual report. Also because Novozymes has taken first steps towards evaluating suppliers on their social performance and because key public policy issues such as animal testing, donations, labelling enzymes, antibiotic resistance, gene technology in connection with food/feed production are covered extensively by public position papers.
Novozymes included again in the SB20 list: The World's Top Sustainable Stocks (July)
SustainableBusiness.com announces the 2004 SB20 list - The World's Top Sustainable Stocks. The list is presented in The Progressive Investor newsletter, published by SustainableBusiness.com, which tracks this emerging market place. The list is made up by 20 companies recommended by five leading social/ environmental investment advisors - the companies must stand out as the world leaders in terms of both sustainability and financial strength.
Thomson Extel Survey 2004: Head of Novozymes' Investor Relations is one of the best IR managers in Europe (June )
Michael Steen-Knudsen, head of Investor Relations, and Novozymes were voted third in the category "Best IR Individual among Peers in Europe". This is an impressive result given Novozymes' size. Smaller companies like Novozymes generally find it hard to be listed in surveys at all because larger companies with a market value of more than DKK 100 billion are quite simply more visible in the equity markets. No other Danish companies were cited in the survey, which is the most reliable of its kind.
Novozymes in Franklinton receives the 2004 Employer Award from the Employment Security Commission of North Carolina (May)
Novozymes in Franklinton, US, was nominated by the local Employment Security Commission (ESC) office and was selected on the basis of its work with the ESC and its positive impact and contributions to the community and to North Carolina's economy in general. At the award ceremony the ESC stressed that Novozymes in Franklinton keeps up good communication with the ESC in relation to job openings. Another reason was the partnership with a local college to establish a biotechnology curriculum called Bioworks, investing more that USD 250,000 in equipment and labs in 2001. Today employees from Novozymes teach many of the classes in this curriculum at the community college.
Danish business magazine Berlingske Tidendes Nyhedsmagasin's Image survey 2004: Novozymes no 9 (April)
Novozymes rated no 9 on the total image list compared to last year's no 8. The image survey has been conducted since 1997 and it assesses the companies on various matters such as innovation, financial strength, communications, credibility, social responsibility, quality and management.
Danish business paper Bor sen's 2004 Image survey
CEO Steen Riisgaard leaped 54 places to no 24 in the ranking of Danish top executives, and Novozymes itself has jumped from 24 to no 4 in the list of analysts' favourites. Overall, Novozymes moved up five places to 19 in Borsen's Image survey.
Novozymes is so highly rated by analysts on account of its stated goal of growing operating profit by 10% a year, which has a direct impact on the bottom line. According to Borsen, this is the reason for Novozymes' status as darling of the analysts.
In the 2004 Image survey, Borsen asked senior executives, analysts, students and representatives of the general public in Denmark which business leaders and companies deserve the greatest respect.
Novozymes second in Denmark at corporate governance (January)
The first large survey of how Danish companies behave in relation to The Norby Committee's recommendations for corporate governance in Denmark ranked Novozymes second best, fulfilling 77% of the Committee's recommendations. The Norby Committee was formed in 2001 by Danish Minister for Business and Industry requesting that the Committee evaluate if there was a need for recommendations for good corporate governance in Denmark and, if so, provide their suggestions for such recommendations. Read about corporate governance in Novozymes here.
Novozymes best at IR in Denmark (January)
Danish financial magazine Berlingske Tidendes Nyhedsmagasin's investor relations analysis 2004 gave Novozymes and the East Asiatic Company a joint first place for best IR activities in Denmark. The companies were assessed among other things on the quality of information, of annual accounts and of homepage, on top management's availability and openness, the head of IR and the CFO's insight and the ir ability to create relationships. It is the most comprehensive survey of its kind in Denmark. Further, Novozymes' head of IR, Mr Michael Steen-Knudsen, was named best IR manager in Denmark for the second year in a row.